Indonesian flood leaves 71 dead, 100 missing

CHRIS BRUMMITTAssociated Press Writer

Published Tuesday, November 04, 2003

BUKIT LAWANG, Indonesia -- A torrent of water, mud and logs swept through a resort village near a reserve for endangered orangutans on Indonesia's Sumatra island, killing at least 71 people, including five foreigners, and leaving more than 100 people missing, officials said Monday.

Days of heavy rain triggered a surge Sunday night in the Bahorok River, which winds through the village of Bukit Lawang. Dozens of inns and restaurants that line its banks were destroyed.

"It was like the sound of 10 jet planes taking off," said Charil Hakim, who was sitting outside his house when the flash flood hit. "I thought it was the end of the world."

Most of the village's 2,500 people were asleep when the flood hit. Many had been observing the dawn-to-dusk fast of the Ramadan holy month and had gone to bed early in order to rise for a pre-dawn meal.

"It was like hell on earth," said one survivor, Adik, who had just returned from evening prayers at the mosque when the flood struck.

Officials blamed the flood on illegal logging in the jungles above the village, which lies 45 miles from the north Sumatran provincial capital of Medan.

Huge branches and boulders lay tumbled across the once picturesque town, which has long drawn backpackers from across the world to its orangutan reserve.

Despite the devastation, officials said the several dozen orangutans in the reserve, located a mile up the valley from the river, appeared unaffected by the disaster.

Late Monday, officials suspended the search for any survivors and said rescue efforts would resume at dawn Tuesday.

The dead included a German, an Australian, two Chinese and a Singaporean, said police Sgt. Togar Sinagar.

Altogether, Police Sgt. Bomer Pasaribu said, 71 people died and 108 people were reported missing. He said no foreigners were believed to be missing.

As he spoke, a bulldozer trundled into the devastated village to help search for bodies.

A single corpse in a black plastic bag lay unclaimed outside the village mosque. The remaining bodies had either been buried immediately according to Islamic tradition or were taken to Medan.

Late Monday, survivors wandered among the devastation. Others were sleeping on the floor of the mosque or at a government building on higher ground.

"The logs and rocks hit my body and turned me black and blue. I survived when neighbors pulled me out of the river," said a sobbing survivor who identified himself only as Hendri.

"I watched my father and mother drown," he said.

Hendri said the water surge lasted 10 minutes and carried thousands of logs, which smashed into inns near the river.

Hundreds of people die each year in floods in Indonesia, an archipelago with 210 million people. Environmentalists say many of the disasters are caused by illegal deforestation, which disrupts the natural absorption and flow of water from the highlands.

"The flood shows us that the upper area of the Leuser National Park has already been seriously degraded due to illegal and well as semi-illegal logging," said local conservationist Michael Oni Setiawan, referring to the park that towers above the village.

"That obviously has a huge environmental impact on the habitat of endangered species, especially orangutans and Sumatran elephants," Setiawan said.

Tourism had been the mainstay of the village since the orangutan reserve was established more than 20 years ago.

"What are we going to do now?" said Lebeh Muktar, as he surveyed the remains of his village. "Everyone knows someone who was killed. Why us?"